SMALL businesses in Oxford are among the most well-located in the country to thrive, according to economy buffs.

A new report ranked the city in the top 15 in the country that have the best growth prospects for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Oxford comes 12th in a table produced by Capital Economics, commissioned by npower, pipped by frontrunners London, Bristol and Leeds.

The analysis firm predicted that the top 15 cities will collectively generate £16 billion and 200,000 jobs by 2020, contrary to fears in the aftermath of Brexit. 

It said: "Overall we expect that the impact of Brexit will be more modest than other commentators suggest and we expect all regions to grow by an average of more than one per cent per annum in the next five years."

Dale Murray, board advisor at the Centre for Entrepeneurs, said the growth of smaller businesses was "crucial" to the country's economy over the next five years.